


Love is Strange

by AlexaNDYE



Series: Pepperony Week 2017 (7/9 - 7/15) [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 15:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11489745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexaNDYE/pseuds/AlexaNDYE
Summary: "To love is nothing. To be loved is something. To love and be loved is everything."orTony is tired of Aldrich Killian, the High School bully, treating Pepper like she's property.





	Love is Strange

**Author's Note:**

> Pepperony Week 2017  
> Day 4: Lyrics/Quote
> 
> A/N: I wasn't expecting to write an AU; it kind of just... happened. Enjoy!

Everyone in the class was talking; it was as if there were twenty conversations going on at once. The teacher finally decided to stop the ruckus when someone laughed too hard.

“Okay, class, quiet down. Please quiet down,” Mr. Thompson shouted. Once the class settled back into their seats and focused on him, he continued with the class activity. “Lets start off with… you, in the back. Give us a good quote about love. C’mon, don’t be shy.”

The boy in the back stood up. “Uh… Love is the sun. It burns bright.”

Tony’s eyes landed on Pepper, as she reminded him of the quote, and coincidentally, the light that shined through the window landed on her long and beautiful hair, making it glow as bright as the sun.

Mr. Thompson nodded. “Simple, yet elegant. Great job.” He pointed at another person. “Anthony, please share what you have.”

Tony stood up, and everyone stared at him. “To love is nothing.” He paused and tried not to sneak a glance at Pepper. “To be loved is something. But to love and be loved is everything.”

“What a nerd,” Wanda smirked with a short laugh. And the group of girls that was sitting next to her laughed with her.

Wanda was one of the popular girls. Ever since Tony transferred to the school, he’s been targeted by most of the popular people; they’d made fun of him, shoved him into his locker, and they’d pushed his books down so they’d fall on the floor. He tried not to pay attention to them, but it was easier said than done.

“Bravo, Anthony,” Mr. Thompson said with a generous applause. “Very astute. I’m going to write that one on the board. That was very, very excellent.”

Tony flashed a small smile as he felt a sense of accomplishment. “Thank you.”

The bell rang and Mr. Thompson dismissed the class with a reminder about homework that was due next week. Tony grabbed his notebook and reached over to his side to shove it into his backpack. He saw a pair of long, white milky skinned legs approach his seat. When he looked up, he nearly swallowed in nervousness. 

“H-Hi,” Tony muttered nervously.

Pepper smiled. “Hi. What you said was very beautiful. I’m Pepper, by the way.”

God, she had a beautiful smile. “T-Tony,” he replied. “And thank you, you’re… too kind.” He was not making any sense and he was mentally scolding himself for it.

“Are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

“I transferred here a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t—”

“N-no, don’t be.” Tony laughed lightly.

He got up from his seat and followed Pepper out of the classroom.

“So, what did you write?” He asked.

Pepper stared at him. “Hm?”

Fuck, her eyes are so blue. “In English class.”

“Oh, I didn’t write anything,” she replied with a shrug. “I’m not that creative when it comes to writing. It’s easy to convey my feelings physically, but with words, I’m pretty much a lost cause. A feeling like love is something you can’t express in words. You can say that you love someone, but you can’t explain how it feels to be in love, or to love another. It’s like this tingly feeling in your heart that you can never get rid of when you think of them, but even then, it’s not an approximate explanation.”

He stared at her in awe. “Y-yeah.”

“It’s unexplainable, really.” Her smile was so bright, yet he could feel a bit of sadness in her tone.

He nodded. “I understand.”

“Most guys don’t.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Hey, Pepper!” they both heard from down the hallway. It was Aldrich Killian and his group of friends; they were the ones that bullied Tony the most.

Pepper waved and then she turned to Tony. “Exhibit A,” she muttered. He smiled in amusement and they both went their separate ways. He didn’t notice that Aldrich was staring him down and continued to stare daggers into his face until Pepper was within arm’s reach.

Tony turned around and banged his head on his locker. Rhodey came up to him and raised an eyebrow at his friend in befuddlement.

“You okay, dude?”

“Yeah…” Tony replied. He banged his head on his locker one more time before he turned to face his friend. “Pepper talked to me.”

Rhodey’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? Really?” Tony nodded. “Well, what’d she say?”

“A lot of things – stuff about love and the expression of love.”

“And what’d you do about it?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“To be fair, Pepper and I have only just met.”

“But you haven’t stopped talking about her for the past two years since you’ve been seeing her every year at your dad’s internship.”

“Yeah…”

Rhodey shook his head. “You’ve had so many chances, Tony.”

“I know, I know… don’t remind me.”

The bell rang five minutes later and Tony was off to his next class.

It was an hour and thirty minutes later when the bell rang again. He headed to the cafeteria and stood in line to get his lunch. After he got his food, he tried looking for Rhodey, but the only thing his eyes could spot clearly was the familiar color of orange hair. It wasn’t the only red head in the cafeteria, but it was the only color that stood out. Natasha, Pepper’s friend, had auburn hair, but it wasn’t nearly as radiant as Pepper’s.

Before he could take his eyes off her, he felt someone bump into him. When he looked up, it was Aldrich.

“Watch where you’re going,” he spat out. He stared Tony down and smirked. “You enjoying the view? Don’t think I don’t know who you keep looking at.”

Tony looked away in embarrassment.

“Don’t eyeball my girl like you’ve got dibs, Stark.”

“Don’t treat her like property, Killian,” Tony grounded out.

“What the fuck did you say to me?” he replied angrily and smacked Tony’s tray out of his hand, spilling his food all over the floor. The tray fell to the ground with a loud bang, and everyone stopped their side conversations to investigate the sound. Everyone was looking at him and Killian.

“Uh, Pepper,” Nat muttered. “Isn’t that Aldrich?”

Pepper turned and she saw Aldrich staring Tony down. “Oh, no.” She quickly got up in her seat and Nat followed.

“You heard me.” Tony stood his ground. “Or are you deaf?”

Aldrich balled his fists and was prepared to punch Tony in the face. An arm looped around his in attempts to stop him from escalating the encounter.

“Aldrich, stop,” Pepper said in demand. “Let it go.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Aldrich forcefully pushed her away, causing her to stumble backwards into a nearby table. 

Tony saw Pepper wince in pain, and the thought of Killian hurting her made his vision go red. “Don’t you fucking touch her,” he grounded out.

He wasn’t sure who threw the first punch. He landed a few on Aldrich, and Aldrich landed a few onto him. By the time the teachers got involved, he was being pulled off of Aldrich. Both his right hand and left cheek was swollen and red. It didn’t look like he won the fight; it only looked like he fought a good fight.

He was in the nurse’s office with the principal; he explained what happened in the cafeteria, and then he mentioned the bullying, but it didn’t excuse his actions, so the principal decided to suspend him for two weeks.

After the nurse wrapped his hand up and put ointment on his cheek, his butler, Jarvis, picked him up from school. He drove Tony back home where his parents were impatiently waiting. Tony already knew that the school called them and informed them of the fight.

His mother looked worried, but his father looked absolutely furious. His father yelled at him until his voice cracked; he was so furious, he made Tony go to bed without dinner.

There was a knock on Tony’s door a couple hours later.

“Come in,” Tony muttered lowly.

His mother opened his door and put a plate on his desk.

He looked at the food and sighed. “Dad said I’m not allowed to eat.”

“He says a lot of things,” Maria replied with a shake of her head. “Come eat before it gets cold.”

Tony rolled off his bed and sat at his desk. “Thanks, Mom.”

Maria ruffled her son’s hair and sighed. “What came over you, Anthony? You’ve never gotten into a fight before.”

Tony chewed on a piece of steak. “I know, but I don’t regret what I did.”

“A bully is a bully. There’s no use in reasoning with them or giving them at taste of their own medicine.”

“He was an asshole – pardon my language. And he was treating Pepper like she was a thing to be owned.”

Maria’s ears perked up. “Pepper? Who is Pepper? A girl – a girlfriend?”

“No, she’s a friend.”

“A friend that you got into a fight for.”

“Just a friend.”

“You can’t fool me, Anthony. A man doesn’t get into a fight over a girl unless he has a good reason, like love, for example.”

He instantly choked on his food. “Mom!”

“What?” Maria asked with a light laugh. “It was an example, but I can tell by the blush on your cheeks that I hit the bullseye.” She pinched his cheeks, and he tried to swat her away.

“I’m not in love, Mom.”

“No? Then what’d you call it? Lust? A fixation? An obsession? I’m not clueless, you know.” She smiled at her son and ruffled his head of hair. “You can say all you want, but a mother always knows.”

Tony shook his head to smooth out his hair that Maria messed up and dismissed her with a wave. “Yeah, yeah.” It wasn’t love... was it?

Rhodey came by the following week to give Tony his homework. Tony limped to the living room with Rhodey trailing behind him.

“Sorry I wasn’t there to defend you, Tony,” Rhodey said with a small frown. “Kind of wish I was there to get in a few shots at Killian.”

Tony smirked. “It’s fine. There’s no need to apologize.” He sat down on the couch.

“Everyone is talking about it, you know,” Rhodey informed Tony before he sat down next to him.

“Really?”

“Yeah. They’re mostly talking about how messed up Killian looked after.”

Tony’s grin went from ear to ear. “Serves him right.”

“And they’re also talking about why you did it.”

“Oh.”

“No one knows the real reason though. Some people are saying it’s because he spilled your food and you just got fed up with him. Other people are saying it was over Pepper.”

“Mm,” Tony replied with a nod. “It was a combination of the two, really.”

Rhodey began to laugh. “You have it so bad for her.”

“Shut up.”

Tony thought about his mother’s words and tried to shake them off as fast as he could before he came to his own conclusion. As much as he wanted to justify his feelings and his reasons for why he got into a fight with Killian, he didn’t think he was ready just yet.

The next week rolled around and Tony expected Rhodey to swing by and give him his homework again. When a light knock against the front door sounded, Tony quickly limped down the stairs.

“Hey, what took you so long—“ Tony said as he opened the front door, but instead of being greeted by his dark skinned friend, he was greeted by a familiar red head. His heart instantly skipped a beat at the sight of her smooth creamy skin and endlessly long legs. 

“P-Pe-Pepper,” he managed to choke out. He looked around her, expecting to see Rhodey snickering off to the side, but it was just her. “What are you doing here?”

It was her small smile that made his throat dry. “I came to give you your homework. Your friend Rhodey said he couldn’t make it today. He had something to do, I guess. It was kind of odd. He asked me out of the blue after school if I could give it to you.”

Damn you, Rhodey. “Uh, please, come in,” Tony replied nervously before he stepped out of the way.

Pepper passed the threshold and looked every which way to take in her surroundings. She seemed amazed, to say the least. The house wasn’t quite as big as their previous one, but it was nevertheless large in size. It was certainly larger than the other houses in the neighborhood.

“Who was at the door, Anthony?” Maria asked from the top of the stairs. She glanced down into the foyer and expected to see Rhodey, but it was a girl instead. She tried not to give her son a knowing look. Instead, she simply grinned. “Oh, hello.”

Pepper looked at the top of the stairs and assumed the woman was Tony’s mother. She tensed up, squared her shoulders, and politely replied, “Hello, Tony’s mom.”

“Mom, this is Pepper. Pepper, this is my mom.”

“Oh, Pepper?” Maria raised her eyebrows in surprise and continued to gaze at the couple. “Tony’s mentioned you quite a few times.”

Tony’s ears instantly went red. He shot a look at his mom in an effort to get her to stop trying to embarrass him. “Anyways, Pepper and I will be in the living room.” He rushed Pepper out of there with his hands on her shoulders.

Maria laughed to herself and waltzed back into the bedroom. She knew Tony was going to scold her later.

“Thank you for bringing my homework,” Tony said as they sat down on the couch.

“It’s not a problem,” Pepper replied. He watched her tuck a loose strand behind her ear, giving him a perfect view of her bare neck. He had to remind himself that it was not polite to stare. “Especially after what you did for me.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Tony muttered. “He’s the one that spilled my food.”

She smirked. “So, when you yelled at him not to touch me?”

He hoped he wasn’t blushing. “Uh, yeah… well, that too, I guess.”

She laughed at his attempt to act coy. “You’re a sweet person.”

“You’re only saying that because I punched a guy for you,” he replied playfully.

“You’re sweet for thinking about other people, and not just yourself, is what I meant.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m known to be self-centered sometimes.” He mentally kicked himself for such a terrible reply. “Does he—I mean… has he ever… hurt you?” he asked and watched Pepper’s smile slowly disappear. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“He hasn’t before,” she answered his question. “He’s hurt others, though. He thinks being intimidating and macho is what lands him a girlfriend. I don’t understand his thinking.”

“Why did you agree to date him?”

“Huh?” Pepper was confused. “I never agreed to date him. He’s asked multiple times, and every time I said no, he played it off as if I were trying to act cute. He put a label on us without my permission.”

“Oh.” Tony nodded.

Her eyes drifted down and saw the bandage that was wrapped around his hand. It was tattered from use and it was beginning to tear at his knuckles. “How’s your hand?”

“It’s getting better. It’s only bruised.”

Pepper reached for his hand. “May I?”

Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Uh, sure. Let me go into the bathroom and get the stuff.”

She watched him leave. “You do know that you’re supposed to change it every few days, right?”

He came back with a first-aid box. “I’ve been busy.”

She smirked. “During your two-week suspension?”

“Okay, maybe I’ve just been lazy.”

She took the first-aid kit, opened it, and took out some ointment and bandages. She reached out and carefully took his hand in hers. She unraveled the old bandages and made sure to be careful not to be too rough or too forceful. There was minor bruising on his knuckles that was apparent from the light purple and yellow coloring.

She rubbed some bruising ointment into her hands before taking his hand again and lightly massaging it. He was lost in the comfort and warmth of her hands that covered his. His mouth gapped and his throat became dry as he watched her tend to his wound. It was heartwarming to see her care for him.

“Let me know if something hurts, okay?”

“O-Okay,” he replied nervously.

She unraveled the roll of bandages and carefully stretched it over his knuckles, around his palm, and between each finger. She made sure not to wrap it too tight or too loose. When she was done, she patted his hand and softly ran her thumb over his knuckles.

“Do you do this to all of your friends?” he asked jokingly.

She laughed and closed the first-aid kit. “No, just you.”

“Thank you, Pepper.”

“You’re very welcome, Tony.”

The following week was very different; no one bullied Tony in the hallways, not even Killian and his friends. He wasn’t being shoved into his locker, or bullied for his lunch money. Things seemed normal for once.

After the last class, Tony went to his locker to dump his unneeded notebooks and books. He pulled out his History book out of his backpack, and then he pulled out his notebook. It was his English notebook. He paused to look at it and then thumbed through the pages. Once he found the page he was looking for, he ripped it out and taped it on his locker door.

“To love is nothing. To be loved is something. To love and be loved is everything.”

“Hey.” He heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey, Pep,” he greeted her with a smile.

“Still want to get ice cream?”

“As if that’s a question.” He closed his locker and joined Pepper for their first date.


End file.
